Best Dispersed Camping near Monument Valley, AZ

This is a dispersed camping area within Bears Ears National Monument. There are a few designated spots, as well as just open flat spaces where you can set up camp.  The first few spots are accessible by any vehicle, just watch the soft sandy road after a rain. 

We found a spot close to the main road and didn't have a problem in our 26ft class c.

Further back you'll find more sites, but you'll have to cross a wash and the sites will likely need a 4wd & high clearance vehicle.

No cell service. 

No amenities other than vault toilets. No garbage service.  Area was nice and clean, hopefully it stays that way.

Some of the sites have picnic tables and a metal fire ring, but some have nothing other than a stone fire ring to mark the spot. 

No fee.

Beautiful area, nice hiking and walking available in this whole area.

Second time camping with my kids here. This time we got the remote site we were hoping for.

Most sites are right off the main road. Easily accessible by rv’s and cars. Our site was off the main road. Don’t venture off the main road without high clearance and perhaps 4 wheel drive. If you can tho the few sites set up this way are even more remote and awesome!

Only bummer was no campfires allowed at this time.

It is hot in July, but cools off at night. Constant breeze, no bugs. Bring shade as there are no trees except for a couple of spots by dry river beds. The trees do bring bids with them…

Amazing views and no light pollution or sound at night.

Snow Flat Rd is rough in a few places for a non-high clearance vehicle, but it's worth it. This site was really good for my campervan, but I don't recommend the drive to this spot for larger campers. The site was large & relatively flat. Had a clean rock fire ring. Private area nearby for toilet setup. Wonderful view from the top of this mesa. Wildflowers were blooming at the site. Site was well off the road. There were a handful of offroaders passing by on their way to/from Comb Wash. Otherwise, very quiet & peaceful. No amenities. No T-Mobile nor AT&T service.

Crazy and scary drive coming from Mexican Hat to the south climbing up Moki Dugway to get here. It is not for the feint of heart. 11% grade, 15mph limit and gravel with some washboards. You have to go down the way you came up unless you are going north to Blanding. There are road restrictions for vehicle size. I would not attempt when road is wet. We did our homework and were able to make it in a 22’ 2wd camper van. Huge payoff at the end with views of Valley of the Gods, Goosenecks State Park and Monument Valley. Sites are FCFS. We found a pretty level spot that was easy to back into. So quiet. It could get very windy as you are at 6300ft and no cover. But when it is calm, words don’t describe. Perfect dark sky area.

It's a breathtakingly beautiful spot with a fair amount of simple pull offs for camping.  Unless it's raining or just finished there won't be any water.  There is precious little vegetation as well, but a fair amount of rock outcroppings to block the wind, which howls come spring and is far more common than precipitation.

Speaking of which, don't push your luck if it has rained recently, as the clay softens and becomes slick, packing around tires, and everything else.  Plus even if your vehicle can handle the soft soils you'll wreck the road for everyone once the deep ruts dry out and harden.

Some sites have fire rings but that's the extent of facilities, although there might be a port-a-potty by the western entrance to the road, closer to the Moki Dugway.   Summers get hot, and I'd head up to Cedar Mesa if so. 

There ample dispersed camping on Cedar Mesa, as well as plenty of scraps to get a fire going.  This is one of the greatest concentrations of smaller Ancestral Puebloan (formerly Anasazi, which is controversial and regarded as insulting by today's Pueblo tribes) villages, so there are a life time of ruins to explore.  

Researching ahead of time will pay off, but both the BLM station by the Kane Gulch trailhead and the Natural Bridges National Monument visitor center have maps, guidebooks, and advice.  Please follow the regulations, as this is a sacred ancestral site for numerous indigenous peoples. 

The Recapture Lodge at the east end of Bluff has decades worth of old maps to hidden sites for those who want a hotel (I recommend them highly, having visited off and on since the 1990s).  They'll give great advice if asked. 

Both Natural Bridges and Hovenweap offer something precious in short supply across southern Utah, amazing and beautiful hiking, abundant ruins, and few visitors (this is the rare part).  Both are far more enjoyable than Arches or Zion, which are now overrun by tourists. 

Valley of the Gods, Cedar Mesa, and the nearby national monuments (also Canyonlands, which isn't as packed as the other famous national parks) offer a chance to experience Utah's red rock country without standing shoulder to shoulder with other visitors.  That's getting increasingly difficult to find as the beauty of the region is well known by now. 

p.s. Those wanting even more solitude should ask about the off site ruins managed by Hovenweap: you'll often have these to yourself.